


will you come back again? (i only need a friend)

by plasticinedreams



Series: Zalex Week 2020 [1]
Category: 13 Reasons Why (TV)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Break Up, Post-Canon, zalexweek2k20
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:53:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25111198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plasticinedreams/pseuds/plasticinedreams
Summary: "Charlie and I broke up."
Relationships: Zach Dempsey/Alex Standall
Series: Zalex Week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1818730
Comments: 2
Kudos: 38
Collections: Zalex Week 2k20





	will you come back again? (i only need a friend)

**Author's Note:**

> i didn't proofread this at all so have fun

"Charlie broke up with me."

Zach considered himself fairly level-headed. He avoided drama. To the best of his ability, at least, given all that occurred during his years at Liberty. But when Alex called him at three in the morning, despite the two not talking since summer ended, well...Zach's plans to remain composed flew out the window.

"I'm going to kill St. George next time I see him!" Zach spat. Which wouldn't be far off, since football practices started that Wednesday. He had regretted accepting Kerba's offer to coach tight ends once he realized the drive from Davis to Liberty was an hour on a good day. It made him wonder why he hadn't visited Alex in the month of school they had already gotten through. If he could travel to Evergreen four times a week, he could manage a day in Berkeley.

"You aren't going to do anything to him, Zach." Alex's voice became muffled over the phone, and Zach heard a loud shuffle, no doubt the other boy moving around in his dorm. He got like that sometimes, pacing to calm his nerves. "Look, I called because I needed a friend."

 _Friend._ Something about the word sent a searing pain down Zach's throat. Even after swallowing, he could still feel the burning sensation pool in his stomach and sit there, unmoving. He didn't know what it was, exactly, but it probably wasn't something that would go away easily.

"C-can you come over?" Alex suddenly spoke. There was a vulnerability in the question, and the line went quiet as Zach hesitated to answer. He was just thinking about visiting, so why did he have doubts? It wasn't the first time he would be there to help his best friend get over a heartbreak. After Jess broke up with him, Alex spent a solid week just talking to Zach, and Zach alone. But it was the first time that unknown feeling appeared, the one residing in his gut and making no plans of moving anytime soon. "I mean, you don't have to _now,_ it's really early, and I know it's a pretty long drive, and-"

"I'll be there in an hour."

***

"So, how'd you get them to let you room with Jess?"

It was nearly five in the morning, and Zach was all but straddling Alex on his small twin-sized bed, whispering in attempt to not wake the sleeping girl across from them.

"The floor is Co-Ed, so it wasn't very hard. We told the administrators we'd be more comfortable living with people we knew, even though we're boy and girl. Mentioning my sexuality may have helped a little, too." Alex stared at his fingers, which Zach could see were raw from the biting the younger boy inevitably did after their phone call ended.

"Do you want to talk? About Charlie?" Zach placed his hand on Alex's shoulder, who glanced up briefly in surprise, then moved his attention back to his nails.

"We were Face-Timing. He didn't even break up with me in person . Apparently long-distance wasn't working." He sighed and scooted closer to Zach, his leg practically on top of the older boy's. "It was a month. He couldn't last a fucking _month._ Charlie was the first guy I liked that liked me back. And he was so sweet. He was perfect. I guess I was just an idiot, thinking we would last."

There it was again. That fire in Zach's chest. "Winston liked you," he replied dumbly. Like bringing up one of his other exes would make Alex feel better.

"Yeah, after he got with me just to figure out who actually killed Bryce. And he was more into me than I was into him. It's just...nevermind, that's stupid, I shouldn't say that."

"Say what?" Zach's hand was heating up, the warmth no longer confined to just his stomach. It coursed through his body, turning every inch of skin into a boiling expanse of whatever-the-fuck that feeling was. The pressure on his thigh became glaring.

"You were my first crush on a guy. _Are,_ I guess. It's fucking embarrassing, I know. And when I kissed you...well, obviously I wanted you to kiss back. Then you did, and I thought I had a chance, but..." Alex tore his gaze away from under him, forcing his eyes onto Zach's warm brown ones. "You rejected me. Which, I don't know how I didn't see it coming, I mean, you're like the straightest dude I know."

"Wow, that's an honor. I seriously beat Luke?"

Alex snorted and leaned into Zach's shoulder, burning lava ready to erupt in his veins. "And even though you reciprocating my feelings is like a crazy fever dream I get after some bad E..."

"Is this going somewhere?"

"What I'm trying to say is thank you. For helping me discover part of who I am. I wouldn't have figured it out without you."

Alex moved Zach's hand from his shoulder to his own open palm. Their fingers interlocked, and the burning subsided. Then it clicked.

"Alex-"

The brown-haired boy unraveled their hands and slid nearly a foot away, all in one swift motion. "I didn't mean it like that! The hand holding, I swear. It was just-" 

And maybe Zach should've let him finish before he did what he did in that moment. But he didn't, so when he stood up and kissed Alex square on the lips, he should've expected the reaction he got.

"Zach, what the fuck! Why did you do that?" Alex shoved the other boy away from him. "You can't fucking pity me just because I got dumped!"

"I thought you liked me," Zach muttered, then gestured to Jess, still asleep in her bed, signaling Alex to calm the fuck down.

"I do!" Alex half-yelled, half-whispered. After a glare from Zach, he lowered his voice even more. "I do, I just...you don't like me. I've come to terms with it. I've come to terms with being single now too. There's plenty of dudes at Berkeley who actually like dudes. And I don't need you coming here, trying to get rid of all my sadness over Charlie, or trying to make me confused by kissing me."

"I'm confused too, okay?" Zach may have forgotten to follow his own voice-level rule. "I didn't come here to fucking make out with you! I came as a friend, and I don't know when the lines got fucked up, but I obviously didn't _kiss you_ as a friend."

"So you're telling me _Luke_ is the actual straightest guy I know?" A smile flickered on Alex's lips, and maybe, just maybe, Zach would get to kiss them again.

"Well I'm not... _not_ telling you that?" _Again with the awful responses, Zach._ He sat back down onto the wrinkled comforter, noting the not even five inches between him and the other boy.

"Luke has a pile of magazines with a bunch of half-naked guys hidden under his bed." Alex provided, smirking as he smoothed out the sheet beneath them.

"I'm _in_ a guy's bed. I think I win."

"You're not even half-naked."

"I could be." Zach wiggled his eyebrows, and his hand found its way back to Alex's worn fingers.

"At least take me out first." 

***


End file.
